Seattle man arrested after photographing open ATM

Photo by Shane Becker A Seattle man was handcuffed and thrown in a jail cell after photographing an open ATM with his cell phone over the weekend. Shane Becker, a self-described anarchist, said he took the photo while two security guards were refilling the ATM in Rei, a store

Photo by Shane Becker

A Seattle man was handcuffed and thrown in a jail cell after photographing an open ATM with his cell phone over the weekend.

Shane Becker, a self-described anarchist, said he took the photo while two security guards were refilling the ATM in Rei, a store that specializes in outdoor sporting goods.

He said the security guards closed the machine and then demanded his identification, which he refused to hand over.

We go back and forth about why I took it and don’t see it as a problem versus why they think it’s somehow threatening their personal safety and their property’s safety. They’re trying to convince me to give my ID to the Loomis guys to write their report. I’m trying to convince them to go fuck themselves that I didn’t do anything illegal or otherwise wrong and that Loomis doesn’t have any jurisdiction to compel me to give them my ID. Round and round, over and over. Until…

Seattle Police arrived on the scene and brought up 9/11 as the reason why he should not have photographed the open ATM.

When he questioned whether 9/11 was a justifiable reason to not take photographs, one of the officers handcuffed him.

Meanwhile, another customer in the store photographed him getting arrested but that person was not harassed.

The officers transported him to a precinct where he sat in a cell for 30 minutes.

They released him with the orders that he not return to the store for a year or else be arrested for trespassing.

Becker is now hoping to see the photo that was taken of him during his arrest.

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I am a multimedia journalist who has been fighting a lengthy legal battle after having photographed Miami police against their wishes in Feb. 2007. Please help the fight by donating to my Legal Defense Fund in the top left sidebar, which helps pay for the thousands of dollars I’ve acrued in debt since my arrest. To keep updated on the latest articles, join my networks at Facebook, Twitter and Friendfeed.